Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, entered a not-guilty plea to the charges.
The 31-year-old Bankman-Fried has already entered a not guilty plea to eight counts related to the collapse of a cryptocurrency exchange last year.
On Thursday, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, pleaded not guilty to new US criminal charges, including conspiring to violate campaign finance laws and bribing Chinese authorities.
Bankman-Fried, 31, previously pleaded not guilty to eight counts of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research.
The new charges pile pressure on Bankman-Fried, who faces decades in prison if convicted in a trial set to begin on October 2.
Bankman-Fried, 31, pleaded guilty to the new 13-count indictment during a hearing before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan federal court.
Mark Cohen stated that he intends to fight the new charges because they were brought after Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas, where he was arrested in December and FTX was based.
Bankman-Fried was arrested following the collapse of now-bankrupt FTX due to a flurry of customer withdrawals prompted by concerns about commingling of funds between the exchange and Alameda.
The initial indictment issued by the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan provided few details about the alleged scheme. During an unusual post-arrest blog post, the former billionaire admitted to inadequate risk management at FTX but denied stealing funds.
Prosecutors submitted an additional 12-count indictment in late February, expanding on the fraud charges and accusing Bankman-Fried of illegally contributing tens of millions of dollars to US political campaigns through straw donors as part of a strategy to buy influence in Washington.
On Tuesday, prosecutors moved to unseal yet another indictment, accusing Bankman-Fried of conspiring to violate an anti-bribery statute by orchestrating a $40 million payment to Chinese authorities in order to regain access to $1 billion in cryptocurrency in frozen Alameda accounts.
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, former FTX technology chief Zixao "Gary" Wang, and former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh all have agreed to plead guilty and agreed to work together with prosecutors.
Bankman-Fried is being held in his parents' Palo Alto, California, home on a $250 million bond pending his trial. Earlier this week, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan approved modifications to Bankman-bail Fried's package aimed at preventing the defendant from tampering with witnesses.
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